1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for displaying a message to supply consumables when remaining amount becomes less.
2. Description of Related Art
A user using the image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile machine and the like has to buy and exchange consumables such as a cartridge for storing a toner, an image drum cartridge integral with, a photosensitive drum, a charging unit, a developing unit, and the like, as required. Upon the use of the image forming apparatus by the user, the above mentioned consumables will be consumed according to his use, resulting in inviting an inoperative condition of the apparatus. To avoid such condition, the following measures have been taken. In these measures, a case of the toner is exemplified that a remaining amount detecting means built in the apparatus detects that a remaining amount of the toner becomes less than a prescribed amount and displays a message indicative of this information on an operation panel of the image forming apparatus or on a display connected to a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”), thereby calling the user's attention so as to have the user prepare a new toner. Further, alternative measures are proposed that an ordering means which the user can operate by himself is built in the image forming apparatus, or that an automatic ordering means sends an order request signal to the consumption administration apparatus disposed independently from the image forming apparatus, or the like (see Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-063104).
In these image forming apparatuses, for example, alike a color printer using toners of four colors, when “black toner LOW” as to a black toner, for instance, is displayed, the message will be kept displaying until the black toner cartridge will be exchanged. Therefore, after the user has ordered the black toner, a message of “cyan toner LOW”, for example, might be displayed. Under such condition, there has been a case that the user may overlook such a new message of “cyan toner LOW” subsequent to the message of “black toner LOW” because of the user's confusion between the black toner and the cyan toner since they belong to the same kind of consumables.
The problems the present invention attempts to resolve are how to eliminate the user's confusion that may be induced by the message prompting to order the required consumables under such circumstances that the message is kept displaying until the required consumables are actually exchanged even after the consumables required to be exchanged has already been ordered.